Peter Janáčik

Peter Janáčik (*1966, Liptovský Mikuláš, SK). The backbone of Peter Janáčik’s work is a reflection on intimate experiences confronted with the complexity of human relationships. Formally, he draws on cinema language rather than the language of photography. Rapid edits take us from shots of young boys – fallen angels, to small, expressive still lifes. The rawness of photographed scenes, where it is unclear whether they are natural or staged (but what difference does that make today?) is intensified by attaching the photographs directly to the walls of exhibition rooms. Janáčik’s path towards photography commenced in the 1990s, when in parallel to photography he also dedicated himself to painting and drawing, employing all three media in installations. He combined drawing (with wax) with photography, transposed photography onto canvasses, or painted fragments from photographs. Janáčik developed his conceptual approach during studies at AVU in Prague and later at V·VU in Bratislava.